Two small additions might point to huge plans for the future of Disney's Hollywood Studios

After years of construction, Toy Story Land is now officially open. Next year, both Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge and the Mickey Mouse dark ride have their grand debuts. That’s leaving some to question what the future holds for Disney’s Hollywood Studios post-2019. Two new character -anchored experiences might give us the best hint yet at what Disney leadership has in mind.

When Toy Story Mania switched from the Pixar Place entrance to the new Toy Story Land entrance, the former Pixar Place became a backstage area. Now Disney has confirmed another Pixar franchise will soon call this street home, though only temporarily.

Starting January 18, 2019, the former Pixar Place will be transformed into a block of Metroville. A dance party at the end of the block celebrating the heroism of Mr. Incredible, Mrs. Incredible and Frozone will draw guests into the land. Interactive games and other fun pop-up activities will take place throughout the day. Edna Mode will be nearby in a special meet-and-greet, where guests can also see some of her latest fashion creations. Baby Jack-Jack won’t be meeting guests, but his mischief will be seen throughout the pop-up mini-land.

Also starting Jan. 18 just outside of the former Pixar Place in the Walt Disney Presents attraction, Guardians of the Galaxy’s Groot and Star-Lord will make way for Mike and Sulley from Monsters, Inc. The new Monsters, Inc. meet-and-greet is the first time Mike and Sulley have been meeting guests at DHS since the Streets of America closed in 2016.

Photo via Disney

Both of these new character experiences are an interesting choice since both have been strongly rumored as future additions to the park. On a recent episode of the Disney Dish podcast, Disney historian and insider Jim Hill stated that the Magic Kingdom’s Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor might be moving to Hollywood Studios. This comes just months after new details on a rumored Monsters, Inc. re-theme to Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster took the fan community by storm. According to that rumor, the indoor roller coaster attraction starring Aerosmith may be redone as the door factory seen in the first Monsters, Inc. film.

This wouldn’t be the first time a Monsters, Inc. door factory roller coaster has been rumored for DHS. Just over a decade ago details on the door coaster began leaking out after a detailed description of it was posted on an internal cast member website. The post on the internal website disappeared within hours, but by then hundreds had seen it. Soon every major theme park news site was reporting on the plans for the coaster, which at that time was slated for the soundstage.

Despite the documents announcing the door coaster, Disney eventually canceled the plans for the attraction. Now that former soundstage is home to the third track for Toy Story Mania.

Monsters, Inc. though has proven to be a continued hit for Disney with the characters regularly appearing throughout Disney parks worldwide. California and Tokyo both have Monsters, Inc rides that continue to prove popular.

Now it looks like Disney maybe testing the popularity of the characters at DHS with the new meet-and-greet. If the characters prove to be popular the park might see the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster courtyard redone as Monstropolis.

Beginning in the spring, the small black box theater, the Sunset Showcase, that Disney built next to the indoor coaster will be home to a new temporary Cars themed interactive theater show, using digital puppetry technology that Disney also uses for the Turtle Talk with Crush and the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor. If Disney does move forward this time with their Monsters, Inc plans for the park, according to Jim Hill, the Laugh Floor attraction may eventually come to DHS, likely replacing the Cars show. The two Monsters, Inc attractions together would create a new mini-land for Hollywood Studios.

The Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster courtyard isn’t the only area at DHS that likely isn’t long for this world. The Animation Courtyard area and the small backstage zone between it and the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster courtyard have been rumored as either part of the new Monstropolis or as an Incredibles themed mini-land. Before the updates to the Sunset Showcase building, Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor attraction was rumored to be a part of the Animation Courtyard redo. It looks like the Animation Courtyard may instead see an ‘incredible’ update.

This past summer Disney World celebrated The Incredibles with a pop-up celebration in Tomorrowland, where The Incredibles have had a dance party for many years. A new Incredibles-themed roller coaster also opened in California earlier this year just as the franchise was celebrating the runaway success of the sequel. There was some speculation that Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster would be getting a redo for The Incredibles, using many of the same props the coaster in California uses but with multiple insiders now pointing to Monsters, Inc. instead, it looks like Disney leadership has decided to dust off a former ride proposal. A trackless Incredibles themed screen based dark ride had been previously described by insiders as Spiderman (the award-winning attraction at Islands of Adventure) meets Mystic Manor (Hong Kong Disneyland’s extremely popular trackless Haunted Mansion-inspired dark ride). Plans are still in the works, and it is unclear at this point if Disney has decided to move forward with the Incredibles themed family E-ticket attraction.

Much less is known about the possible future Incredibles plans than the Monsters, Inc. plans, but both of the new character-driven experiences opening next year are thought to be tests for Disney with the properties.
For now, the plans post-2019 are still unknown, but with two new character experiences, the new cutting-edge Mickey Mouse dark ride, and Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge all opening next year 2019 will be a busy year for Hollywood Studios.